On the Cultivation of the Woad Plant, and its manufac- 

 ture as a substitute lor Indigo in dying. 



By William Partridge. 



The seeds are best sown in the month of March, or early in April, 

 if the season permits; but it requires a deep loamy soil, and is still 

 better with a clay bottom, such as is not subject to become dry too 

 quickly. It must never be flooded, but situated so as to drain its 

 surface, that it may not be poisoned by water stagnating on it. If 

 meadow land can be obtained, it will be doubly productive. A sea- 

 son of warm showers, not too dry or too wet, gives the most regular 

 crop, and produces the best woad. 



Land cannot be too rich for woad; yet, when dung is used, the 

 weeds become troublesome, and the hoeing expensive. Some raisers 

 sow it as grain, and harrow it in, and afterwards hoe it as turnips^ 

 leaving plants at a distance; others sow it in rows by a drill plow, 

 and some dibble it in, putting three seeds in a hole, and these holes 

 to be from twenty inches to two feet apart. Woad very often fails 

 in its crop from the land not being in condition, or from want of 

 knowing how to destroy the botts, snails, wire-worms, &c. To kill 

 these, strew lime, forty-eight bushels to the acre, and harrow it in, 

 which will destroy them all as soon as the first rain ialls. 



The leaves of woad on good land and in a good season, grow very 

 large and long, and when ripe, show near their end, a brown circle, 

 when they must be gathered, or they will be injured. Woad is to 

 be gathered from twice to four times in a season. 



Woad, when gathered, is carried to a mill and ground. 



These mills grind and cut the leaves small, and then they are cast 

 into heaps, where they ferment and gain an adhesive consistence; 

 they are then formed into balls as compact as possible and placed on 

 hurdles, lying in a shed, one over the other, with room for air be- 



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